Mumbai professor loses Rs 18k to e-con, cops arrest son for crime

MUMBAI: A year after Rs 18,000 had been mysteriously debited to a professor’s bank account, her only son has been arrested for cheating her. The professor who had all along blamed her bank for not send any one-time password (OTP) on her phone has now been left disillusioned on learning that her son had clandestinely deleted the message sent by the bank.
The amount had been transferred from her account to an unknown PayTM account last December. From there, it was relayed to another bank account, said the police.

The bank refuted the professor’s claim that she had not received any OTP and went on to say that the transaction was cleared after the password was used from her phone. A month later, the professor lodged a cheating and hacking case against an unidentified person.

It was only last month—about 11 months later—that the probe progressed. “We got details of the PayTM number and and also details of the bank account holder to whom the money had been further relayed,” investigating officer Swapnil Shinde said, adding that both the account holders were called for inquiry.

The details that tumbled out foxed the professor, said the police. “The bank account holder, who was kn own to the professor’s son, told us that after Rs 18,000 was credited to his bank account, the professor’s son asked him to withdraw it and give it to him,” said Shinde. “This bank account holder is a former employee of a shop owned by the professor’s husband.”

Quite ironically, the professor’s son—a law student—had earlier accompanied his mother to lodge a police complained. After his name cropped up, the police questioned him. “He confessed to his crime. He told us us he needed the money for shopping. He also told us that the PayTM account was that of his friend,” said Shinde.

He added that the son has also confessed that the young man had deleted the text message of the OTP form his mother’s phone.